Random Acts
by jayer
Summary: Something is up with Lindsay and Danny decides to do something about it. Post Stuck
1. Chapter 1

"Careful there Montana." Danny called out as Lindsay half slide down the incline. "Don't want you breaking anything."

"I'm so touched that you're looking out for my well being."

"Actually I meant the equipment." He shot back, grabbing the supplemental kit and opening it on the ground. "This stuff costs more than we make in a year combined."

Lindsay shot him a half disgusted glare, grabbed a pair of gloves and stomped off.

"Montana, I was only joking."

Danny watched as Lindsay started processing the area around the body. She was tense. Very tense.

"Monroe, seriously. I was just kidding." Danny walked over to help.

"What is this, some game? I just the shit as the new kid until someone newer comes along."

"Nah, it's not like that."

"So it's just me. You chose me to be the honored recepient of your snarky little barbs. And what, I'm supposed to be touched. Feel privileged." Lindsay looked at him with dagger eyes. "I actually thought that one day we might be friends. But to hell with that. I'm sick of this shit Messer. I won't be your target. Do me a favor. Don't say another damm word to me unless it's pertinent to the investigation. Okay?"

"Okay." Danny replied, somewhat in shock. This wasn't the Lindsay Monroe he was used to. His Lindsay would have just shot back an equally snarky reply. She wouldn't have been so defensive or nasty. Something was bothering her, but Danny knew from her rant that he was the last one she'd fess up to.

It was a pity really because he liked her. She'd proven herself to be a top notch investigator. And a good cop. And he did consider her a friend.

Maybe he'd just have to solve the riddle on his own. Put together the pieces the way she did when she found Mac's weekly Jazz date.

First he'd have to find the pieces.


	2. Chapter 2

"What up, Doc?" Danny greeted Syd as he and Lindsay ended Autopsy.

"Broken bones." Syd waved them over to the table where one of their victims was laid out. "A great many of them."

"One of those broken bones kill him?' Danny asked.

Syd nodded and then proceeded to give him a catalog of exactly which bones were broken, cracked or crushed.

"Looks like this poor guy really pissed someone off." Danny observed. "What about his friend?"

"The exact bones are slightly different but the extent is equal."

"T.O.D?"

"The current cold snap may have cooled the bodies at a faster rate than normal. And influenced rigor. But there were no signs of postmortem damage such as animals. Between 12 and 24 perhaps."

"C.O.D?" Lindsay asked sharply. She had been so quiet, Danny actually forgot she was there.

"Hard to pin down exactly."

"Well how about a guess?" Danny noticed more than a touch of sarcasm in her voice.

"Easy there, Mon--" Her sharp glare cut him off. He decided to keep his focus on Syd and the bodies and hope that Lindsay wouldn't go Mr Hyde again. "What are the possibles?'

"It's likely a combination of blunt force trauma leading to shock and exposure." Syd picked up a hand, "The tint of the fingers is indicative of mild hypothermia from being outside in the cooler temperatures without proper coverage."

"So they were alive when they were dumped?"

"Indeed. But perhaps only barely."

"And trace on the bodies?"

"Unfortunately no, Miss Monroe." Syd's voice was clipped. He wasn't fond of being snapped at. But he seemed to understand that something was bugging Lindsay and didn't take the bait and snap back. "My visual exam showed only dirt matching the area you found the bodies."

Syd not so subtly turned his gaze on Danny. He was choosing to avoid Little Miss Pissy Mood as well. "Still, I collected as much of the dirt as I could, along with scrapings from their hair and combings from the hair. I also have hair samples and blood for DNA. Photos and copies of the X-rays should be ready and brought to you in about twenty minutes and of course I bagged all their clothes." He pointed to two carefully labeled brown bags.

"We'll take those to go." Danny said, grabbing them from the counter. "Thanks Syd."

"Any time." Syd nodded.

"Oh Danny."

Danny stopped in the doorway. "Yeah Syd."

"My nephew is going to be in town for a college interview. Law school actually. I was wondering if perhaps he could join you and Detective Flack for your basketball game again. He rather enjoyed it last time."

"Sure." Danny nodded and headed down the hall where Lindsay was impatiently waiting for the elevator. He reached the door right as it opened.

"If you and me are going to work this case, Monroe." Danny said, not bothering to look at her. "Would you please get over whatever crawled up your ass?"

"Excuse me?"

"You were rude back there. Very rude. Syd shouldn't have to parade what he does just to make you happy that he knows how."

"I never said--"

"Not in words, Monroe. Not in words."


	3. Chapter 3

Danny pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. His head was hurting from working non stop since they came back from Autopsy. Plus there was the mind numbing frustration of having absolutely nothing.

"How's the case?" Mac poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Fantastic." Danny replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We have two victims, brutally beaten to death and dumped. And we have absolutely nothing. Not even a tiny speck of trace or DNA not from the victims."

"You id the vics."

"Not yet. They aren't in any database." Danny grimaced. "Plus there's Monroe."

"Something wrong with Lindsay?"

"She's been a pill all day. From the moment we got to the crime scene. Mac I'm not one to be to callous, but I hope this is just a bad case of raging PMS cause she's been a real bitch all day. Snapping at everyone, me, Syd, Adam."

"Did you ask her about it?"

"I tried. She won't talk to me. She just gives me the Montana Death Glare." Danny sighed with frustration. "Yesterday she was fine. We got off, grabbed some breakfast. Started talking about being kids. Did you know Monroe grew up on a cattle ranch?"

"No, I didn't."

"Well sort of. It was her uncle's ranch. Monroe spent summers there. Says she was riding horses by the time she was five. She wanted to know if there was a place to ride around here. Even said she'd teach me if I was game."

"Sounds like Lindsay."

"Yeah. I was even thinking of taking her up on it. Never been on a horse. Could be fun. And today she's . . . . UGH! She's making me wanna scream."

"I'll talk to her."

"Thanks." Danny grabbed his coffee and headed back to the lab. The table of clothes taunted him. "I need some air."

Danny headed to the locker room to grab his jacket. As he pushed open the door, a noise caught his attention. He knew that noise.

Danny quietly slipped across the room and peeked around the bank of lockers. Lindsay was sitting on the floor, sobbing.

Ah, shit. Danny thought to himself. Whatever was up with Lindsay was something big. And personal. He could figure that much out. And not the kind of something she wanted him to know about.

Danny slipped out of the room and down the hall.

"Stella." Danny knocked on the open office door.

"Danny. Hear you and Lindsay pulled a hell of a case. Anything I can do to help?"

"Nah. Not with the case." Danny rubbed his hair nervously. "But maybe you can help with something else."


	4. Chapter 4

He should have just left it alone. He told Stella something was up. She'd find out what happened. She'd find out and take care of it. Hopefully. Or at least tell her to stop being a pain to everyone.

But he couldn't just drop it. The curiosity was driving him crazy. He liked Lindsay. She was a good detective. And yeah she could be a little weird but that came with the business. They were all a little weird in their own way.

He didn't just want her to stop being a pain. He wanted her to admit that something was up. So yeah, he was being nosy and listening to what should have been a private conversation.

"It was stupid to think it would work. I mean, when do long distance relationships actually work out." He could hear Lindsay talking in that half sobbing, half hiccuping way that comes from too much crying. After five years in the force interviewing freaked out witnesses and victim's distraught families, he'd gotten good at hearing pasting the hiccups. It had become his third language.

He could hear Stella murmuring something. He could imagine that she was doing what she did best. Being everyone's big sister when they needed it.

"I mean if he didn't think it was going to work out, why didn't he just say that when I left. Why pretend like he was happy for me and tell me that we'd make it work."

What a jerk. Danny thought to himself. He knew he'd broken some hearts. Mostly of girls that wanted something long term that he didn't want. But he was always honest with them. From the beginning. He wasn't one of those guys that would tell a girl he loved her when what he really wanted was just to get her into bed. Crude as it seemed, if he just wanted sex, that's what he'd tell a girl. If she was cool with that, great. If not, he'd see her safely home and that was that.

"And then he goes and leaves it on my answering machine. Doesn't even try to say it to me. No, I come home from work after a nice breakfast with Danny. Talking about home and horseback riding and needing to do laundry. I get home and there's a message from Greg. What kind of guy breaks up with a girl by answering machine. And the day before Valentine's Day."

The last words caught Danny's attention. Being single at the moment, he hadn't really paid attention to the date. He was vaguely aware of the ladies at the first floor reception desk having out candy but he wasn't much for sweets so he didn't look closely.

No wonder she's in a bad mood. Danny thought to himself.

"Why don't you tell Mac you aren't feeling well." He could hear Stella saying. "Go home. We'll find someone else to help Danny."

"If I go home I'll just think about Greg the whole time."

"Then how about if we go grab a bite to eat. You haven't had a break in almost twelve hours. A chance to clear your head will do you good."

"Okay."

Danny ducked back into the lab and occupied himself with a microscope.

"Danny." He looked up at Lindsay's voice. "Stella and I are going to grab something to eat."

"Cool." He nodded as nonchalantly as he could.

"Want me to bring you something?"

"That would be great, if you could. I'm in the middle of something I want to finish." He fished a bill out of his wallet and handed it to her. "Stella knows what I like."

Lindsay nodded and left. Danny waited until he was sure they were out of the building. He had something he needed to do.


	5. Chapter 5

"I can't believe I was such a jerk to Danny. He must really think I'm a bitch."

"Danny's pretty understanding." Stella grinned. "Just tell him you were having a bad day and you're sorry you took it out on him."

"I guess the food won't hurt either."

"Danny is a sucker for a good meatball sub."

"Thanks, Stella." Lindsay laughed and headed for the lab.

"Hey. I brought you lunch." Lindsay set the bag on the side table. She held out the money Danny had given her. "And it's on me. I'm sorry I was so nasty earlier."

"Everyone has a bad day. It's cool."

"So, what's next?"

Danny looked at his notes. "I've been going over the victim's clothes. Looking for any kinds of stains or unusual wear marks. Checking the labels to see if it's a unique brand that might give us a clue about where they were from. Figured it was something to do while Data put together a list of all the missing persons cases that could fit our guys."

Lindsay nodded. "Anything?"

"Nothing from Victim 1."

Lindsay picked up bag of clothes from the other victim. "I'll work on victim 2 then. So you can eat while your food is hot."

She situated herself at the empty table next to Danny's and opened the bag. Only there weren't clothes inside. Lindsay pulled out a small teddy bear holding a red heart. There was a card in the bottom of the bag. Lindsay opened it.

A message was written inside in a familiar neat handwriting. "Montana. You're okay in my book.DM"

Lindsay turned to look at Danny who was still staring into his microscope. He looked up at her with a sly grin. "Happy Valentine's Day, Montana."

"Thanks, Danny."

"Yeah. Whatever." He grabbed the bag of food and disappeared down the hall to eat.


End file.
